1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a head supporting mechanism for supporting a magnetic head for writing information to a disk device or reading the same therefrom.
2. Description of the Related Art
The magnetic disk device includes a plurality of magnetic disks and a magnetic head for having access to the magnetic disk. The magnetic head is provided on a head slider, and the head slider is supported by a suspension. The head supporting mechanism includes a loading beam constituting the suspension, a flexure attached to the loading beam and the head slider attached to the flexure. The flexure has a wiring pattern, and a terminal of a head element is connected to the wiring pattern of the flexure.
A suspension of a CSS (contact start stop) type magnetic disk device is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 1-245477. The suspension disclosed in this publication has a groove on a back surface of a head slider for fixing a loading beam and a flexure on a bottom of the groove formed on the back surface of the head slider.
A magnet disk device having a loading and unloading suspension is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) Nos. 8-263946 and 11-250603. In the case of the loading and unloading suspension, a loading beam extends longer than a head slider to form a so-called lift tab at a distal end thereof. When the magnet disk is stopping, the lift tab engages with a ramp disposed in the vicinity of the magnetic disk so as to hold the head slider away from the magnetic disk.
When a head supporting mechanism is manufactured, the flexure is first attached to the loading beam and then the head slider is fixed to the flexure. To fix the head slider to the flexure, it is necessary to press the head slider and the flexure to each other. For this purpose, jigs for fixing the head slider are used. One jig supports the head slider from the underside thereof, and the other presses the flexure from the upside thereof.
In the case of the loading and unloading suspension, however, because a distal portion of the loading beam extends over the head slider, the flexure and the head slider are covered with the loading beam. When the head slider is fixed to the flexure, it is impossible to bring the jig into contact with the flexure because the flexure has already been mounted to the loading beams which will disturb such an operation. Accordingly, in the prior art, the loading beam is provided with a window through which the jig is inserted to be in contact with the flexure so that the head slider is fixed to the flexure.
FIG. 12 is a plan view illustrating the head supporting mechanism of the conventional loading and unloading suspension. A lift tab 142 is provided at a distal end of a loading beam 128. A flexure 130 is disposed beneath the loading beam 128, and a head slider (not shown) is disposed beneath the flexure 130. The head slider is mounted onto a slider fixing section 134 of the flexure 130. The loading beam 128 has two windows 150 so that the slider fixing section 134 of the flexure 130 is exposed from the windows 150. The jig is inserted into the windows 150 to press the flexure 130. Thus, it is possible to fix the head slider to the flexure 130.
If the windows are provided in the loading beam, however, it is necessary to increase a width of a portion in the loading beam in which the head slider is positioned. Thereby, a mass of the portion in the loading beam in which the head slider is positioned increases to cause a problem in that the resonance frequency of the suspension lowers to deteriorate the positioning accuracy of the head.